Dow Posts 4-Day Decline; Apple Drops 2%

Stocks recovered from their lows but still finished in negative territory in a choppy session Thursday following a batch of negative economic reports and as investors remained worried over the looming "fiscal cliff."

With the recent declines, the Dow and S&P 500 are on pace for their biggest monthly losses since May. And all three major indexes have plunged more than 5 percent since last week's presidential election.

Among the key S&P sectors, telecoms and utilities dragged, while financials eked out a gain.

On the economic front, factory activity in the U.S. mid-Atlantic region unexpectedly contracted in November as the business activity index dropped to minus 10.7, according to the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank.

The Empire state manufacturing activity index gained to minus 5.22 in November, according to the New York Federal Reserve Bank. And jobless claims unexpectedly jumped in the previous week to a seasonally adjusted 439,000, due to Hurricane Sandy, according to the Labor Department.

Meanwhile, the consumer price index edged up in October, according to the Labor Department. The data still pointed to only modest inflation pressures that appear unlikely to derail the Fed's plan to keep rates low for an extended period.

Will Markets Get 'Cliffed'?

What could happen to your money if Congress does not come up with a compromise on the fiscal cliff? Dick Gephardt, former House Majority Leader, says "the goal is not getting the budget straightened out; the goal is using that as a means to get the economy to grow."

"Any kind of meaningful positive news out of Washington may give us a relief rally," wrote Elliot Spar, market strategist at Stifel Nicolaus. "However, there are numerous levels of upside resistance which were previously support so it will be a tough climb."

Stocks tumbled more than 1 percent in the previous session, with the Dow closing at its worst level in nearly five months, following President Barack Obama's press conference on the "fiscal cliff," worries over the global economy and amid geopolitical tension in the Middle East.

"The predominant factor is still the fiscal cliff—that's what bothered the market yesterday during the press conference when President Obama seemed not ready to compromise, but rather obdurate about what he wanted to do with the tax increase," said Art Cashin, director of floor operations at UBS Financial Services.(Read More: Bartiromo—'Fiscal Cliff' Deal? Don't Count on It)

McDonald's announced that Jan Fields, president of its U.S. business, will leave the fast-food chain. The departure comes a week after the company reported its first monthly sales drop in nearly a decade.